wilhouse

I don’t believe any of the verses contained riddles to be answered per second. I don’t believe that was Preiss’s style. Remember this guy quoted obtuse Melville references.

We have only solved 2 puzzles out of 12. Also, he does appear to do different things in different instances.
For example, there is a rebus for Mil-wauk-kee, but there is no rebus in most of the others.
Also, it appears that the Boston solution may have mathematics involved, whereas that certainly isn’t the case in the others.
I am not saying that the entire Verse 1 is a riddle. I am just saying it is a “cute” clue to possibly name something with “wood” in it without coming out directly to say it. It also goes along with the zoo theme of Houston. Oregonian’s suggestion of “zebrawood” is a possible answer, although I am not sure if BP would even know what zebrawood is. Keep thinking guys! Maybe it’s not a riddle, but if you just think about it for a while, you may come up with an answer.
The Pinewood Café?
http://www.hermannpark.org/visit/pinewood-cafe/

Kinder station and the pinewood Cafe are late additions to Hermann Park

next time you see him, thank him personally from all of us members on these boards for all of his assistance.

Just a quick thought with the line “Looking back from treasure ground”, I think the word ‘ground’ may be a clue to look for something that uses electricity.

I agree; I’ve been distracted by other hunts. I will devote my entire Saturday this weekend to finding you guys a treasure (from the comfort of my own home, but if I happen to be inspired… I
do
keep a shovel in my trunk).

Great!  Go for it, Forest Blight!

Cat, you may be correct about the palm shadow not necessarily meaning palm tree but other lines in V6 sure seem to point to FL.  I do feel that the P’s lead you to a state or city and the V’s narrow down the search….but, I dont think it is a stretch by saying some lines of the V’s may also point to the general location (as well as linking it to a P), then going into detailed directions.  Take V6 as an example.  To me, the 1st half of the V seems to take us to the state of FL.  Now, the 2nd half (starting with “Between two arms extended….” seems to be giving us more precise directions.
Now to V1.  I really like your ideas on the park in Houston.  A lot of your confirmers do seem to match…(there is a geyser in this park too Steve).  Just how can you take train #982 if it has been retired though?  ??? Just kidding Cat,  982 also referred to a train (believe it or not) in the area I’m researching.  Other things seem to fall into place as well…and if (as many believe) somewhere in the V connects it to a P, then my theory really begins to take off.  Although, you know first hand as do I (TQ) that once something is in our minds…we try (and usually succeed) to make them fit.
In looking over most of the P scans that Mark so generously put up…there isnt a whole lot that is lost.  It does help to have your own copy to go over with a fine toothed comb though.  Glad to have you on board Cat.

forest_blight

Any news, wilhouse??

no, we’re too close to DocLove’s graduation in May for me to do anything but right after, it’s off we go again.  The bulldozer will be ready around August for the final dig.
wilhouse

Any news, wilhouse??
Has anyone noted that the last two lines invoke the “I’m a little teapot” rhyme?
There’s the spout!
A whistle sounds.
Also, from a poem by Ruth Temple Lindsay:
The
lion
, he prowleth far and near,
Nor swerves for pain or rue;
He heedeth nought of sloth nor fear
,
He prowleth–prowleth through
The
silent glade
and the weary street,
In the empty dark and the full noon heat;
And a little Lamb with aching feet–
He prowleth too.
Can you tell I’ve been using Google Book Search?

anyone know if HoustintxDave doug that hole next to the clock tower? I definitely think its somewhere closer to the children zoo like press hinted at, but with all the work Dave did Id like to at least know if its there or not.

Tomorrow morning.

Dave you say this was the zoo. Do you really mean the Miller Theater because that’s not the same thing.
wilhouse

My dig was at the zoo wilhouse.
Erexere was asking me to check something out at the Miller theater. Erexere has a ariel photo of the theater, hill, atropos key statue and wanted me to visit and check his diagram for paces to the north of the staute. Erexere lives in Oregon. Just lending a hand to the folks who cant visit the site. He wants me to take some photos for him to help support his investigation of the area.

Dave can you discuss what clues have led you to believe you have a dig site picked out?
wilhouse

Dig 1 was on Saturday at the Houston Zoo
The depth of my dig was close to 3 feet…but still nothing found at this location.
Im going out on wednesday evening to review some more areas. Just scouting tomorrow no digging.

That looks like excellent hole digging.
I wish there was some really specific pacing instructions to go with Houston. It continues to be a very challenging verse and image.
Dave, could you do me a favor and check my pacing idea to use 24 steps from the Atropos Key? You dont have to dig, but Id like to know if 24 paces has a nice line when looking towards the theater roof. Take a couple pics, maybe?

I can do that for you erexere. I will take some pictures and do the pacing for you. Any requests to dig at Miller Theater area have to be approved by the Houston parks dept. They just put new grass in near the bottom of the downslop north of the atropos key statue.

Cool! When do you plan on visiting the site next?

Unknown

Unknown:
Easy answer….time to probe.

Easy to say, but in reality, very hard to do. Far be it from me to spoil anyone’s fun, but in the real world, probing is hard…and ultimately pointless unless you are willing and able to dig.

Probing may work in an ideal setting…but ideal is broken.

JoshCornell

guys, the wood no lion fears clearly refers to woods to right of obelisk, as they are IN THE SHAPE OF AFRICA…lions are kings of the jungle in africa…

I know people will give me flak for this, but this is one thing i agree with you on. I’ve had this on my path almost constantly since I started,

JoshCornell

its in those woods around where the bend in the track (only bend back then mind you) was…bw 4 trees of which 3 are winged elms…not easy to find these days.

If it was actually there, it’s gone, now. Several of us scoured the area as a team and turned up nothing. I don’t think that’s what it refers to, anyway.

Euhirudinea

Now what?

Easy answer….time to probe.

What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
In December night
Wilhouse, excuse my ignorance here, but have you decided on these lines of the verse?  I’ve started reading back from post #1 on this thread again and hope to finish soon.  As with any thread, weeding through the immaterial stuff hurts the brain.  Before adding my nonsense to it, I’m curious as to your thoughts before I add mine.

or I could just stay liquid – ated
wilhouse

TexWriter

So, “Falls gently In December night”, in my opinion, refers to what Priess experienced as he was standing in the park on a December evening around 1980 when he buried the casque. The leaves were falling gently in the night as stated in the full quote.

to me however it makes much more sense that he buried it during the summer, when the weather is nicer and there would be more cover for his activities.
and Since during the year he buried it, there was a popular animal, a llama named “Snowflake” in the CZ. It makes more sense the line is referring to Snowflake as a site confirmer clue.
just thinking about it leaves fall during Autumn, not december.

HoustonTxDave

The closest column with the ball on top is an arial view of the refection pool and the sam houston monument circle.

It really does match the column currently, no question about that, however looking back at historical aerial photos the pool/monument area is not quite a good match.
Was there a tourist map back then, which showed the area as it looks today? Sort of a preview or planned view? It definitely seems like BP collected tourist maps and postcards from where he traveled.

I too think snowflake the llama makes one of the best reasons to that line, but I wonder if that provided a foothold for a deeper reason, which is why I think its possible to utilize the number 24 or 25 as a pacing if there is a tie in for red/scarlet as a way of utilizing the Santa Claus motif.

erexere

I wonder if that provided a foothold for a deeper reason, which is why I think its possible to utilize the number 24 or 25 as a pacing if there is a tie in for red/scarlet as a way of utilizing the Santa Claus motif.

I’ve never seen plausible evidence of deeper associations, they are all very simple and straightforward, at least they would have been then.

Im working on it. Does the Terminal Tower in Cleveland support a deeper examination given Terminus is the god of boundaries/borders?
The Pierre quote isnt at all straightforward. I think its discovery guarantees some complexity in this puzzle. It does much more than simply identify Hermann Park.

maltedfalcon

Don’t forget, Houston is in the south. The temperature today was 80 degrees. Everything is still green here. Believe me, the leaves have just started falling as they do every December. The weather is definitely not “nicer” in summer here unless you think digging in a sauna bath with the temperature and the humidity both hovering in the 90’s is fun.
But beside all of that, it seems most of you are convinced it was in the Children’s Zoo and have personal experience there. I cannot argue your points at all since I have only lived in this area about 8 years now.
Good luck to us all in our searches. I wish I could go to San Francisco! I think I have that one nailed. My wife and I are planning a trip that way.
TexWriter

That’s what I did.
wilhouse

1. After identifying “fortress north and friendship south” (whatever they might be) do we end up in Hermann Park in Houston?
The coordinates in the image in the tree 30 N 95 W…are houston. The closest column with the ball on top is an arial view of the refection pool and the sam houston monument circle. The verse…line 15 and 16 are a qoute from Herman Mellville…the book being Pierre, The Ambiguities. The coordinates, the arial view of hermann parks refection pool/sam houston monument circle and the HERMAN Mellville qoute…along with the 982 southern pacific train in front of the zoo in 1980 all point to hermann park.
2. Then next, do we take our task to the “982” train in Hermann park in 1980?
Our task is to start at the train 982…which was in front of the zoo and near the little choo choo kids train.
3. Now do we go “Through the wood No lion fears”?
the question next…is in which direction do we go next? Because the first line of the Verse says Fortress North…you would think we would go north…but if you turn to page 16 in the book..the secret…this area of the book is about The Passage to the New World. On page 16…where it beings……..Now in the eternal whirlwinds above Persia’s Mountains of Kaf, appear the caravan of magic carpets and upon them rode the banished elders of Araby; Montrous Deeves..desert born giants; the Peri, bright and beautiful starlight; and tbe wish granting Djinn, formed of smokeless fire.
In Persian language the definition of Kaf: means “the camel’s hump” or the hand. In the image…there is a column with a camel on top of it. The column itself looks exactly like the column that sam houston sits on if looking at the side of the monument.
Also…in the book titled “Paradise Revisited:The Roots of civilization” by Michael A Cahill…in the asia section it talks about the PERI…they were fairy people out of persia. In the story the Deeves abducted PERI and put them in cages. They were kept alive by feeding them perfumes.
So…in conclusion…the only place in hermann park that have animals (fairies) in cages is the houston zoo. So we enter the zoo. The main area in the zoo has a refection pool which is a minature version of the one near the sam houstion monument. On both sides of the small reflection pool in the zoo are rows of old trees (wood). That no lion fears…refers to the lions den…in 1980…they were in cages/den…so you were safe.
4. Do we then pass a fountain or something where “In the sky the water veers”?
the small refection pool in the zoo has fountains…that spray water up. I know most people think…well what about Ponieer park..near the obolisk…it has 4 fountains…but those small fountains were not added till the remodel in the mid 90s. So..we are at the houston zoo…near the reflection pond water fountains now…near the lions den.
5. And then do we find “Small of scale” and then “Step across”?
small of scale…refers to the childrens zoo…everything was built at a small scales so kids could interact with aminals from countries. STEP across refers to the small bridge near the center of the childrens zoo..that you step over.
6. Next do we now find something “In the center of four alike”?
In the center of four alike…refers the the childrens zoo park of the Houston zoo. It had 4 sections..Asia, North America, Latin America and africa.
7. If we found it, is it “Small, split, Three winged and slight”?
In the childrens zoo…there were small cinder blocks that were placed in different areas as art. The were like art statues that were small..some were split in half and looked like the number three. One statue cinder block art statue looked like a bird….thus a small, split, three winged..and slight.
8. Now that we are here, do we ponder the meaning of “Our strongest tower of delight Falls gently In December night”?
The Heman Mellville qoute on the verse…line 15-16…What we talk to be the strongest tower of delight Falls Gently in the December night.
In the childrens zoo..the auditorium building has a pointed roof..like a witches hat. This is your strongest tower. In december the sunlight casts a shadow down to the ground.
In the verse…also it mentions that perspective should not be lost. In the childrens zoo there are columns like the one in the image with the Rhino. The column blocks looks exactly like the one in the childrens zoo near the asia section. When the afternoon sun cast a shadow down to the childrens zoo petting areas it will be near one of those columns. In the image…it shows the ruby near that column.
9. And next, do we find ourselves “Looking back from treasure ground”?
if you stand over by the cinder block statue..you are at the location to LOOK back from treasured ground. So we are looking for something…see next question.
10. If “There’s the spout” is next, do we see it?
There’s a spout…refers to the BROWNIE statue that looks like an elf with a hat on it holding a bowl. It was originally in the childrens zoo in front of the auditorium building. It was in a small water fountain area where a water spout water came up from behind him.
11. And finally, while standing here if “A whistle sounds” do we hear it?
Most people think the whistle sound is from the train…but as a kid…my parents took me to the houston zoo in the childrens zoo area. When kids were allowed in…let say the asia section…to pet the animals…there was a 15 minute time you had to play with the animals…at the end of the 15 minutes…they blew a whistle or bell to let you know your time is up.
Does my line of questioning make sense as to what I am getting at? I am trying to visualize if there is an order to be followed from the clues in the verse.
So where do we look to dig? My Theory is the Herman Mellville qoute on the verse…line 15-16…What we talk to be the strongest tower of delight Falls Gently in the December night.
In the childrens zoo..the auditorium building has a pointed roof..like a witches hat. This is your strongest tower. In december the sunlight casts a shadow down to the ground.
In the verse…also it mentions that perspective should not be lost. In the childrens zoo there are columns like the one in the image with the Rhino. The column blocks look exactly like the one in the childrens zoo. When the afternoon sun cast a shadow down to the childrens zoo petting areas it will be near one of those columns. In the image…it shows the ruby near that column. Thats where to dig.
BUT in 2007 thought 2013 the whole childrens zoo was dug up and destroyed…and the Gorilla exhibit was built in its place. So we may not be able to recover the houston cask because it is built over or dig out and halled off by dump trucks moving earth.
WILHOUSE..has been the most active search and digger in the childrens zoo before that part was remodeled to the gorilla exhibit. He was active with park officials and even got to use tractor digging equiptment to dig…but he wasnt able to find it. If i had to give a prize for closest to the treasure cask…i would give it to wilhouse.

Thank you both for your insights.
I agree the image confirms Houston with the lat and lon.
It seems we all also agree that you start at the old train engine 982 from where it was located in 1980.
And it also seems we agree on the order of the other occurrences.
Where we differ is in the interpretation of “small of scale”. I do not think people went around saying the children’s zoo was small scale whereas they most certainly referred to the train as small scale. If indeed, according to my interpretation, it is the train then we must step across the tracks. If that is the case then looking at the track layout from 1980-81 then the location of the casque must be inside the loop formed by the tracks. I conclude this from the fact that there is only one mention of stepping across the tracks which would put us inside the loop. If all of this is true then that would mean the Children’s Zoo as well as anything south of the location of the train tracks would be excluded since we never cross outside the loop once we step inside. The problem of course is the interpretation of Priess’ email about digging in the Children’s Zoo would not be a waste of time. I have no answer for that.
Another comment I would make is to the quote from Melville. I read the entire book, ‘Pierre, or The Ambiguities’, and the meaning of that quote, to be understood more clearly, must be taken in it’s context. I was standing in my front yard here in Katy TX (about 21.5 miles as the crow flies from Hermann Park) when it struck me what Priess was saying to us. The Entire quote: “What we take to be our strongest tower of delight, only stands at the caprice of the minutest event—the falling of a leaf, the hearing of a voice, or the receipt of one little bit of paper scratched over with a few small characters by a sharpened feather.” Herman’s quote referred to Pierre in the book holding his father in such high esteem (this sacred belief) and the sudden arrival of a simple letter completely crushed his feelings for his father when he found his father had an affair. This quote refers to his father as the tower of delight and we see from the rest of the quote what I saw happening in my front yard. Remember, we live in Houston. It does NOT snow in Houston (except very rarely). In fact, the leaves are just now falling in my front yard (Dec. 15) from our large tree and the leaves are falling in Herman Park when I was there this past Saturday. So, “Falls gently In December night”, in my opinion, refers to what Priess experienced as he was standing in the park on a December evening around 1980 when he buried the casque. The leaves were falling gently in the night as stated in the full quote. It’s not the part of the quote he used, but what follows immediately thereafter.
So, as you see, we differ in our opinions to a degree and that is what makes The Secret such a challenge for all of us.
The search continues.
TexWriter

The strongest tower of delight could also be the party room which was another name for the office bldg across from the auditorium.
Wilhouse

Dan, yes, but you would help more if you could help me find a place to put all these pictures I took. any suggestions?
wilhouse

Hehehe…I think all I get credit for doing is bumping the topic after a few months of inactivity.  🙂
For storage space, there’s always Geocities, but it’s a little unreliable. AOL is pretty good for this kind of stuff (20 MB of space) but if you don’t already have an AOL account, don’t bother.
If you don’t mind sending people to another site, Yahoo Groups are free and have a good chunk of storage, as well as a Photo and File gallery. If you upload ’em as Files, they will remain the original size; if you upload ’em as Photos, Yahoo automatically resizes them down to about 400×300, which may or may not be want you want, depending on how much detail you need to show.

fox

That caravan of ideas keeps getting longer and longer….   ;D

hey…is that a Tower of Camels?

I believe it’s called a “snowflake” of camels.

I thought it was a snowflake of llamas.

You know, I get llamas and camels confused.  It
is
a snowflake of llamas.  A
flurry
of camels.

I’m not sure what you call it but if you look really closely….riding atop the 34th appears to be a cylon.

Steph53282

If the podcast is correct and we should see certain landmarks in the picture that coorespond to the the verse, what landmarks do we see that match the Glasswell Art School and the Friendship Pavillion? Are we just meant to stand at the place where the school and fortress is North and the Friendship Pavillion is south of you? If so, is that the SH Statue? Is the Miller Outdoor Theater the location clues or is there something else?
In both the Chicago (fence and wall) and Cleveland (planter/wall box) pictures, you can see a landmark in the painting at the dig site so until another one is found, perhaps the dig site is in all of the paintings, we just haven’t figured them out yet.
One more thing that has bugged me: On the rhino pole, the tree branch is SO thin compared to the other branches above it. It connects directly to the column and goes over it sort of like the hands in the cement on the Hollywood Walk of fame. Is/was there a place where hands are in cement somewhere in either the zoo or Hermann Park?

I believe we do see certain landmarks and not others. That’s the beauty of having to intertwine the Image with the Verse. I see plenty of clues in the Image and verse that put my location at Mecom-Rockwell Colonnade which is between Glassell and Friendship Pavillion.
You should be able to see some clues from the treasure spot but not others. Many will lead you to the correct area and others will zero you in.
As for the Rhino column (Miller Outdoor Theatre), I see the the leaves as JJP forming a diamond like in Atropos Key indicating Atropos Key in front of the Theatre.

erexere

Why does Preiss use the words “take your task”?

I wondered that as well. Did it mean “Start here” or “End here”?

Take [aim], since the following line identifies the 982 [train]. Training and aiming are synonymous.

I am confused about the RHINO column
I have seen old photos of the MOT before the steel top
It had white columns on each side of the stage but nothing on top of the columns
I have never seen a column with a rhino on top
Where exactly was it located?

Doghousereiley

I have never seen a column with a rhino on top
Where exactly was it located?

In front of the zoo

In my solve I refer to the Rhino column as representing Miller Outdoor Theatre. I’ve never actually seen a column with a Rhino head on it.

maltedfalcon

In front of the zoo

I’d be interested to see this Rhino pole pic once uploaded by Wilhouse and Catherwood; links are broken now.

WhiteRabbit

I’d be interested to see this Rhino pole pic once uploaded by Wilhouse and Catherwood; links are broken now.

I will ask if he still has it.

Newbie here-in Houston. Not sure if the clock was there in 80’s. I am pretty sure the path that the clock is next to was built in 1997. The spout is from 1997 and the building near the clock is from 1997. I recently took a pic of the clock base, looks like a “C” – it’s iffy if you ask me. Maybe I will figure out how to post pics here. I think the cask is somewhere near Miller Theatre-probably on the west side. There must be a connection between the fountain and the Djinn. Just arm chairing it so far. Lined up the diamond opening in the Atropos Key with the apex of MOT. At eye level it lines up about 6 feet back but at ground level, it does not line up at all (pic if I learn how to post.) I think the key is a general area clue but the 3 fates may play into it. One spins the thread (spindles at the top of 2 columns) and one measures the thread. What is the measurement?

RPT, I theorized a number of times about lining up the apex with the diamond space in the Atropos sculpture. My guess is the casque was placed about 68 feet beyond the sculpture.
I’m still wondering if there’s some kind of baseball field measurement being imposed on the MOT layout. Directly below the Apex or Atropos could be home plate, then the distance to the casque could be 90 ft if it’s at “1st base”, or 127 feet (or 180ft, depending on how you look at it) to 2nd base. If the casque is at the pitchers mound, then 60 feet. I dunno, just some silly baseball thoughts. HOUSTON ASTROS….HOUSTON ATROPOS…
I honestly don’t think the casque will ever be recovered in Houston, but it’s still fun to think about.

Oh heck, I kinda like this baseball thought more and more. Supposing the word ATROPOS is a bastardized hint for Houston’s ASTROS, then perhaps the diamond faced sculpture also represents the pitchers mound. What if the idea was to bury the casque at the spot that represents “Mecca” (i.e. Home Plate). 60 feet away would then make sense.

i love the pictures of the elf!  i couldn’t find any, thank you!
can you see the reflection pool from the zoo?
those last lines….”looking back”
looking back, reflecting
were there stones like in the image in the zoo or the entrance?
i know i’m hardheaded

Man, this is fun. I love doing this.
Forest, nothing ever came of the hawk thing. There just wasn’t any hard evidence I could find.
Now, the photos you posted.  In the one photo with three circles (posted a couple different times), the circle in the upper part of the picture is not a statue. It is the gatepost to a little fenced in area that hid the air conditioning unit for the auditorium.
But yes, those are the statues.  They were original with the CZ, and generally movable. That’s important, these things got moved all the time. So even the photos we have might not be the location when Preiss was there.  Some were thin, some tall, some with “wings”.  Split was never a good description in my opinion.  For you newbies, check out the totems and how they look just like Image 8.
I am posting some photos of my good buddy Brownie.  Check out the hat!! No mask though.
Now for the exciting part. Due to everyone’s questions, I emailed the Zoo Director and asked him what was going on at the CZ. He invited me out to take a look. I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to dig, but I’ll take photos regardless.  I’ll let you all know as I get more info.
Finally, Preiss and I emailed several times over the course of a couple years.  When he did “confirm” the location, he told me to “dig there”.  He did not say exactly where though.  He did NOT confirm either the Image or the verse, however, it was only through the words of Verse 1 and the content of Image 8 that I could get to that spot.  And he was commenting on my superimposed photo with Image 8.  Therefore, I would say, that while he did not confirm V1/I8, he confirmed my photo, which was Image 8, which I could get to only with Verse 1.
whew, enough said.
wilhouse

look at the map forest reposted above. the CZ is at the southern tip of the zoo. The zoo is like 1/2 mile across.  The reflection pond is like another 1/4 mile north of that.  Distances are deceiving… you can’t even see much of the zoo from the CZ because of the trees and bushes.
the zoo itself back in 1982 had no real “entrance”  look at the photos in the link I posted in the thread. there’s photos of people at a ground breaking.  it’s relatively sparce.  remember, it was free, had no guards, and was open very late back then.
in 1982, they were doing a lot of construction, especially around the CZ. The zoo director of that time told me that if preiss walked in with a shovel through the construction entrance no one would have stopped him.
wilhouse

Fox– regardless of how closely the Landmarks/image/verse match is to your eyes, the fact that a cask hasn’t been dug up in HPCZ means that it was NOT found.  Still, assuming that the 25 years of construction work destroyed it, then yes we can cross it off.  We can also cross off any that are believed to be in New Orleans and surrounding area, because if it isn’t buried under tons of rubble, or sunk further into the sampish muck by Katrina, then your physical safety will be in danger trying to find it (because you WILL be attacked or killed if you were to dig and explain about the treasure, or even wander around with a shovel).  That means that there may only be 8 left.  If the one in Milwaukee is by the NP lighthouse (which I don’t believe for one second), then who knows how long we have before erosion takes it into the Lake; the lighthouse was moved 100 feet back from the shoreline because one day, sixteen feet of the front yard fell onto the shores below.  Also, if the soil is too rocky in that area, then digging even three feet would be impossible without a pick.  Given that this structure is placed on top of a waterfront cliff, I think this is a safe bet.  Golden Gate Park?  Flooding and earthquakes=goodbye.  Montreal?  Who knows.  St. Louis?  Mississippi River flooding=goodbye.  Anywhere on a beach, or near a coast?  Thank you Global Warming, the tides are messed up, and hurricanes have battered the edges of the country into near-unrecognizability.

Kuh-Lai-Bah-Ti

Fox– regardless of how closely the Landmarks/image/verse match is to your eyes, the fact that a cask hasn’t been dug up in HPCZ means that it was NOT found.  Still, assuming that the 25 years of construction work destroyed it, then yes we can cross it off.  We can also cross off any that are believed to be in New Orleans and surrounding area, because if it isn’t buried under tons of rubble, or sunk further into the sampish muck by Katrina, then your physical safety will be in danger trying to find it (because you WILL be attacked or killed if you were to dig and explain about the treasure, or even wander around with a shovel).  That means that there may only be 8 left.  If the one in Milwaukee is by the NP lighthouse (which I don’t believe for one second), then who knows how long we have before erosion takes it into the Lake; the lighthouse was moved 100 feet back from the shoreline because one day, sixteen feet of the front yard fell onto the shores below.  Also, if the soil is too rocky in that area, then digging even three feet would be impossible without a pick.  Given that this structure is placed on top of a waterfront cliff, I think this is a safe bet.  Golden Gate Park?  Flooding and earthquakes=goodbye.  Montreal?  Who knows.  St. Louis?  Mississippi River flooding=goodbye.  Anywhere on a beach, or near a coast?  Thank you Global Warming, the tides are messed up, and hurricanes have battered the edges of the country into near-unrecognizability.

Wow.. you’d have thought he didn’t read all of the posts.

What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
Although we know the source of this line, i think it’s okay to assume it’s unnecessary to know Melville’s Pierre. The fair folk have already mentioned rain falling on an angled roof, “in the sky the water veers”, so now it references what seems like snowflakes, unique geometric crystaline structures. Can we describe the roof pattern of Miller Outdoor Theater as having a snowflake-like pattern? I think a visual on it’s rooftop measured carefully (falling gently?) through Atropos’ spout to a point on the ground is drivable.
Preiss does a great job selecting these obscure and colorful quotes. Figuring out why they work is the important part.

erexere

What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
Although we know the source of this line, i think it’s okay to assume it’s unnecessary to know Melville’s Pierre. The fair folk have already mentioned rain falling on an angled roof, “in the sky the water veers”, so now it references what seems like snowflakes, unique geometric crystaline structures. Can we describe the roof pattern of Miller Outdoor Theater as having a snowflake-like pattern? I think a visual on it’s rooftop measured carefully (falling gently?) through Atropos’ spout to a point on the ground is drivable.
Preiss does a great job selecting these obscure and colorful quotes. Figuring out why they work is the important part.

You know, taking this off on a tangent, snow in Houston does happen and it is usually huge news. Unfortunately, the last major snow that occurred in Houston prior to the casque burial was in 1960. I doubt that an actual snowfall would be referenced here. Also, while Texans adore the concept of snow, it is unlikely it would be built into the theme of the park and/or puzzle. From the eye of a New Yorker, maybe Preiss could have seen it that way, but to assert that we should glean that from the Image is a stretch.

Looks like snowflakes.

erexere

Looks like snowflakes.

Looks like the Battle Zone tank arcade game from the 1980s too.

In all seriousness, I think it’s comparable to a snowflake pattern or a spider web. I think a simultaneous connection is possible. “falling gently” corresponds to a slow falling snowflake but also describes falling into a safety net which is like a spiderweb…though if you’re a fly in a web…well…game over man.

Snowflake was the star attraction animal in the Children’s zoo in 1981-82 – just sayin

maltedfalcon

Snowflake was the star attraction animal in the Children’s zoo in 1981-82 – just sayin

I hate it when you get lliteral about llamas.

gManTexas

Looks like the Battle Zone tank arcade game from the 1980s

How awesome was that.

WhiteRabbit

How awesome was that.

consensus holds that the whole tower of delight line refers directly to a work by Herman Melville thereby leading us into Hermann Park.

I think BP would be pushing his luck using a simple thermometer/barometer as the final landmar.  I do like your idea however…..would there be anything else in the area pointing towards temperature or air pressure?

except we need to remember his(BP) idea was that they would be quickly found.
This verse also points points to an llama named snowflake in the CZ and thats about as transient a landmark as you could ever have…
So a thermometer is possible too.
Matt

oops, that is how those sites sound, but i will look for the one that says the poem was in the glass vessel, will try to find the right one, but this site talks about the stuff hidden under the statue:
“In 1970, the Garibaldi monument was moved about 15 feet to the east to allow for construction of a promenade in Washington Square. A glass vessel containing documents from the 1880s was found under the original base of the statue. The documents included newspaper accounts of Garibaldi’s death, a history of the Committee for the Monument of Garibaldi, the organization that helped place the statue, and a poster for and news clippings about the monument’s 1888 dedication.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/164856043/
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/washin … ights/8712
7th paragraph
ummm, scratch all that guys, can’t find the site that said the poem “was” in the glass vessel……..yet  ;D
malted, you are right, i jumped to conclusions, here is a site that says exactly what was in the found container:
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/records/pd … _part4.pdf
pages 3 and 4

Just messin’
…
Where was that picture where BP said dig there?

I looked at the golf course once, but it’s scary.  People hitting little white balls everywhere.  Literally, you can’t do much of anything on that side of the street without getting hit in the head!!
wilhouse

The question remains, why did Preiss use the Pierre quore?  I find it nefessary to assume he wanted to use Melville but avoid a direct big “fish” reference.  It must be weighed what he thought would be challenging and yet not too difficult.  Id like to see s ok me discussion on this.
Looks like I misread the article.  It didn’t say Houston Museum of Natural Science, it said the Black Marlin was hanging over the doors of the executive conference room of the National Museum of Natural History.  Sorry for the mistake.  I may have to reconsider some of my conclusions.

1. The stones in the center of the CZ (which is where I originally thought it would be, as it’s a perfect spot) are cemented in place and always have been.  It could still be there, but I looked in the holes already.
2. Sheesh FB, there’s lots of feathers in a zoo! remember that this was effectively a petting zoo, so there were birds everywhere…
3. yes there was a geyser. it was in the lake, probably 1/3 to 1/2 mile from the CZ.  I just don’t know if you could have seen it from the CZ, I’ve heard it was tall, but there’s tons of foliage and trees between the two spots.
4. I have not forgotten the blueprints, and I will renew my request for them.
5. I placed ads on free bulletin boards in the houston area and on chron.com the paper’s site and only got one email from a woman who had no pictures.
wilhouse

Thank you, wilhouse.
I am definitely in the camp that believes “veers” refers to the aquatunnel, and that the casque is somewhere in the CZ. But let’s say we’ve all been wrong about that. How might we otherwise interpret the verse?
Fortress north
Cold as glass
Friendship south
Take your task
To the number
Nine eight two
It’s pretty clear that this gets us to the former 982 location, regardless of what the fortress is, what is cold, or what Friendship refers to. Okay, now what?
Through the wood
No lion fears
In the sky the water veers
Don’t know about the wood no lion fears, but let’s say for the sake of argument that
In the sky the water veers
refers not to the aquatunnel, but to the geyser. Not as riddly, I know, but bear with me. If that’s true, then the wood might refer to trees, maybe a grove of them in Hermann Park near the lake with the geyser. Perhaps actually being there in 1981, we would have seen and understood why no lion would fear it.
Small of scale
Step across
Perspective should not be lost
Miniature train? Or perhaps there was a bridge over part of the lake, with large goldfish (small of scale) everywhere.
In the center of four alike
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
This is our locator for the square yard of dirt. Outside the CZ, “four alike” probably refers to four trees of the same species, but of different shapes – one small, one split into two trunks, one with three trunks, and another small (slight) one.
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
A reference to
Pierre
, which only serves to draw us to Hermann Park.
Falls gently
In December night
Okay, if this isn’t a reference to something that comes after the quote in
Pierre
, we have to assume it’s a reference to something at or near the casque site. Since this hypothetical location is not in the CZ, what could it refer to? Without oddly-named llamas to distract us, it is obviously snow, or something with snow in its name, or something that is very like snow. Not a leaf (they fall in autumn).
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout!
Looking back from where we came (i.e., back toward the lake), we can see the geyser we passed earlier.
A whistle sounds.
Another reference to the train?
If this is correct (and I don’t think it is, but I’m trying to think ouside the box), we have a path to follow. Start at the 982 train, walk through some trees toward the geyser, cross a bridge (or maybe some tracks) and keep walking until you get to a cluster of four trees with a well-defined center. Dig.
Now tear it up.

hmmm…the quote from the Wright’s Memorial:  “”In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conceived by genius achieved .”  Not exactly like our V11:  “To achieve By dauntless and inconquerable Determination”  but yet close enough to locate our site.  If Fenix is correct, then what exactly or where exactly does {inconquerable Determination} instead of {unconquerable faith} lead us?
I will stubbornly stick to my guns and think that part of the quote simply got us to Hermann Park

The rules aren’t necessarily transferable between casques. We have no confirmation that what works for one will work for the others.

I never preposed that.  But, we do have 2 (if not 3) instances of similar things….  Wright Memorial, Melville work & possible “dark forest” on sign at Elizabethan Gardens.  It may not be in all but we cant discount it yet.

Unknown

Unknown:
Egbert, if you check the topic called chicago pictures,  you’ll see that the chicago area was in grass, but the grass was spotty, kind of an abanded area.

There are pix of the Chicago site?  When did I miss this?

Fox, it must’ve been while you were Fox napping.
Check out the thread by loph on page 3 called Chicago Casque Location Pictures.  The first link doesn’t work, but the second one does. I tried it yesterday.
wilhouse

A spouting whistle could well simply be the retired train. The casque could be hidden in the retired train itself…?
There is a Friendship TX in Houston County. But apparently there are Friendships all over Texas.
Let’s see, where are those other straws I was grasping at…

P.29 has some good stuff.

The train looks to be in the center of the red circle.
The yellow circle looks like where the Dowling monument use to be.  Can anyone confirm this?  I’m not sure why Sonoran considered this monument of “small of scale” significance.  Is he saying it compares to the Pioneer monument which is much taller?  Any other significance?  Whoa!  My jaw just dropped when I read that Dowling won a battle 36 vs 5000.  Wow.  Maybe that’s what small of scale means.
I have to admit I just went to work on this image before first reading the past posts.  Now I see every conceivable thing has already been discussed…even the Lion’s head fountain by Soonerfan and FB.  Doh!
Either i forgot to put the image link in or It got pulled since it was all copyrighted…that was probably a nono.

forest_blight

I can’t remember if this occurred to us before. But could “There’s the spout” be a reference to Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”?
“There she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!”

Sure it could. Why not? It’s a delightful double pun on Melville. But there IS a geyser, remember. And that’s spout enough for me.
BUT….Remember what I said about Ball’s Bluff?  Literary jokes were Preiss’s specialty and I think he probably threw in a bunch of them. I mean, look at the rest of the book–it’s ALL literary jokes. Typical of that Lampoon gang.

I saw a youtube video of a big dog standing in a foutain that had exactly four jets in a square shooting upwards.  The dog just stood there enjoying it.  I havent been able to identify where that is in the park yet.  Anyone know of it?  It looks like a good sized pool area.
What does everyone think about the linemwith “tower” also refering to giraffe?

I do not think “tower” refers to a giraffe.
If you google a map of the Houston Museum of Natural Science and click on the satellite map, scroll down a bit–you can see how much renovation they did at the zoo. It pretty much shows the entire thing scraped. They must have clicked the satellite camera during those renovations. Unless that casque was buried on the outskirts of the zoo in Hermann park itself somewhere, or along the train tracks, it will not be recovered.

BREAKTHROUGH!!!
It’s not a granite sphere.
It’s not a Kugel ball.
It’s not an aerial view of the reflecting pool and the SH statue.
IT’S A WATER TOWER.
All the clues are RIGHT THERE—“in the sky the water veers”, “Our strongest tower of delight” and the Image itself!
There’s a curve of those kiddy train tracks where you can SEE a WATER TOWER. It might not even BE at the zoo or the park–but you’ll be able to see it. And if you stop the train right there, you’ll find the casque. I’d be willing to bet on it.

I keep forgetting to check but didnt the minitrain setup get relocated to some extent after 82?

shecrab

IT’S A WATER TOWER.

I don’t think there’s a water tower near the park.  Should be pretty easy to spot on a map, if there is, though.

There is a kugel ball right outside the entrance to the museum across from the sam houston statue. The statue area and the pond were all redone so you can’t go by google maps.
The train was rerouted but I posted a map of the original track.
Here’s some fun shots, the elf fountain by the back gate and Snowflake the llama by the nursery where they hatched reptiles.
wilhouse

Hmm… 12 colonies…Adama…Llama (camelid)…BSG is still kicking.
Three winged and slight
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
I’ve been gleaning for date details on my original claims and discovered that the roof of the Outdoor Theater is completely different now than it was.  I also found the old tracks to the mini train had just looped around the northwestern to eastern side of the lake and then parked over by the 982.  I’ve got a lot to tear down before I make any headway in this most difficult if not futile attempt to sleuth up a casque.
Three winged and slight.  Finches are small birds, winged and slight.  The Gouldian finch can have one of three head colors.  I noticed that the Tropical Aviary was almost at the center of the zoo.  Just to it’s west were the giraffes.  I keep thinking about the line Our strongest tower of delight and I think there may be something to “tower” referencing the giraffe, but also “delight” from the Latin “delectare” could be thought of as “charm” which is also what a collective of Finches is called.  I like the last line of this excerpt because a feather falls gently.

So far what im feeling strongest on is that “no lion fear” is the lions head drinking fountain.  Next on my list is adding punctuation to the line “three, winged and slight” so we are looking at something not with three wings but three things that have wings.  After that we are looking for four things and in the middle of it something…i keep thinking this is a giraffe, four legs and a towering neck.

Unknown

Unknown:
willhouse
The train was rerouted but I posted a map of the original track.

ive been looking for that map,anyone know the pg #
where the 982 was in 2004 2nd pic
http://www.trainweather.com/hermannparkrailroad.html
a stab at what ( Small, split,Three winged and slight ) means
i dont think this is the old layout,of PK and train station side rails
Small of scale Step across (small rails)
Perspective should not be lost (looking back)
In the center of four alike ( 2 sets of rails) which set IDK
could be the side rails,or the tour tracks and side rail
Small, split,Three winged and slight ( tour track,and side rails)
http://g.co/maps/mx57e
the CZ is more SE than directly S from the train station,on this Gmap
http://g.co/maps/fu3vd

a quick glance and the confusion over the pix numbers I didn’t get at all what you were talking about the berms…
but now that I figured out which picture you mean yes it looks remarkably similar to the dunes. right down to the tree trunks in the foreground matching the poles in image 8.

Fox, I was just getting up the nerve to do so.  When I emailed him my solution under the bricks in the center of the 4 compounds, I got the response that he would be checking “the vault” in about a month and would let me know.
I will email him today.
thx for the pep talk.
wilhouse

Although the book says the publisher would honor written solutions that were specific, Byron Preiss has told me in an e-mail that he will only respond to pictures of recovered casques.
I wish you better luck.  Afterall, if it is under cement, it is unlikely that anyone is going to uncover it without great care or expense.

This is what I’m talking about: three winged:
https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Herman … 357c789e3b
And this is the spout:
https://www.google.nl/maps/place/Herman … 357c789e3b

Unknown

Unknown:
I spent another 3 hours today digging in the zoo. I had some thoughts about trying to dig around the concession stand, the “tower of delight” that sells snow cones.
There were several dirt area to dig, but the ground is hard as a rock and full of roots.  I tried using a poker and dug as well as I could, without success.
It’s time to take another approach and use technology to solve this problem.  More on that if what I want to do works out.
Take a look at some shots here.
http://share-dell.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeEMmbdmzaNmFH
In the image 8 thread, I left a note about my opinion that the stitching in image 8 leading up to the djinn spout could be the steps leading to the spout in the zoo area.  It’s the same number of steps / stitches.
wilhouse

Egbert mentioned that there appeared to be a metal rod within his key.
Perhaps a good metal detector will help your search?
If metal detectors are allowed in the zoo.
You may want to ask someone higher up in the management of the place to do a search in that area.

I have a very good metal detector
and based on what egbert said was “in” the key
a pot metal rod for stiffening.
I would venture to say in ordinary ground you would be able to sense the key through about 1 foot of soil , meaning you would need to dig down about 2 feet before even trying to use the metal detector. If there is any mineralazation in the ground or trash (i.e poptops, foil, nails) it would be useless.
Looking at how BP designed the casques – key in a clay casque in a Plexiglas box, I’m pretty sure he was trying to eliminate the possiblilty that somebody with a metal detector would accidentally find it.

“tower of delight” would be ambiguous without the reference to snow(-cones) in the following lines.

Johann, I agree. But now that I am standing next to the concession stand, now what?
wilhouse

if you are talking about the manhole to the right of the obelisk in the woods, thats where i dug (when facing obelisk)

i def did not get down 3.5 ft as it was hard as f**k digging there…so many fucking roots…

JoshCornell

if you are talking about the manhole to the right of the obelisk in the woods, thats where i dug (when facing obelisk)

If it’s the one closest to the coordinates above ,then yes and you should be poking on the west side of the manhole cover with your back to the obelisk.
How about the bird face in the headgear of the image ( the brown lines and the out line ,looks like a white throated sparrow) any thoughts like bird bath or bird shaped water / drinking fountain etc.

dug on W and S side

Another thought. There is a drainage ( manhole),cover by the oak tree that has the burl on it ( 29 degrees 43’ 07” N. 95degrees 23’ 24” W ). I was wondering if there was any writting or an image on it and if the drainage had been updated or the manhole cover had been replaced since 1980. This could be the place where the casque lays when we refer to the line “ Looking back from the treasure ground “, so you have to look down towards the ground as the clue , also that genie could represent water going down a drain like a sewer drain. Another possibility is the central figure could refer to a hands free drinking fountain if on existed in the area.

wilhouse

man, there’s no way I’d stick my head in that thing…
wilhouse

Man, that ain’t you, Wilhouse?  I was just beginning to think that FB had special powers.

I do, but not that kind.

a zoo, where all the animals are caged, so there is nothing to fear.
wilhouse

As long as we are open to wild ideas, I’ve had this one floating around in my head for a long time:
“Through the wood
No lion fears”
first made me think of Hollywood and the MGM lion.
–Johann

Good point.  Along the same lines: The Wizard of Oz.  Didn’t the lion seek courage?  Didn’t the bunch of them travel through woods (of sorts?) ?  What woods wouldn’t be scary to a lion who has no Courage?

Forest, this is fun. Let’s keep it up.  Here’s some answers and perhaps more questions:
If pictures lead us to the city, whereas the verses (coupled with visual cues from the pictures) lead us to the treasure ground… what is it about P8 that led you to Houston? Latitude and longitude?
The lattitude and longitude, and cool references to zoo animals. Also, perhaps the state of texas in the flagstones – see my photo on pic 8.  But honestly, nothing more concrete. Oh except all the pillars, and the globe, and brownie the elf’s hat.
I doubt ‘Friendship south’ refers to Friendswood. It’s just too far away, and is southeast of Hermann Park, not south.
I confused you there.  Across from the cz, by the hospital is a woody area.  This area used to be called the “Friendship Woods”.  I am not referring to Friendswood.
Still pretty sure that ‘wood no lion fears’ refers to something physically between the 982 and the aquatunnel. Wilhouse noted that the entrance gate to the CZ was wooden. Do we have pictures?? If there was something on or around this gate that would make the line ‘No lion fears’ make sense, you’ve got it nailed for sure. Surely there is a photograph somewhere!
I probably have some shots of the entry gate, but it is / was a simple wood log type gate. Nothing specatcular about it.
I had been thinking the 982 was much closer to the CZ than it really was. The 982 was at the main Zoo entrance, not the entrance to the CZ. That means there is a lot of ground between the 982 and the CZ.
The whole zoo is between the two.  and it’s changed significantly in the last 20 years.  If lion fears had specific meaning I dont know what is.
Would the berms have been visible from within the CZ in 1982 (through the gate)?
The berms are just visible from the north side of the cz. You can see it from the fence / gate area.
wilhouse’s message about hawks (‘three-winged’) and dwarf goats (‘small of scale’) (7/8/04) was exciting. And goats do have cloven (‘split’) hooves, do they not?
These are all possible, I just don’t know anymore.
What are the bridges “over”? Water?
Not really. the contact areas have dips and drops in them and the bridges kind of go over lower areas.
I believe it is still important to find out what flag flew over the CZ.
The zoo director tells me that there never was a flag flown. I find it hard to believe, but that’s what he said.
Regarding the center bricked-in area in the middle of the fours compounds… I know you dug there, but are we absolutely certain that the bricks were laid prior to when BP buried the treasures? When was the Japanese lamp put there? If it was just a grass spot at the time, it would have been a great place to bury treasure. Why on earth is a large rock sitting on one of the holes in the center? And why just one?Is the white thing in the center hole the base of the Japanese lantern? What were the holes for? Trees? Ground lamps for the lantern? Suppose there was nothing but dirt in the central hole in 1982 (perhaps a tree had been there and had recently died, so no one would notice dirt disturbed overnight). A determined individual with a post-hole digger could maybe dig down a couple of feet and deposite the casque.
OK, this was my first choice for the casque and I was originally sure it was there.  However, I have a photo from the 70’s that clearly shows the tiles in the center area, and the lantern.  There were some small grass areas – holes – and I already dug down over 2 feet in each one, nothing.There were three large rocks in the center area over concreted in areas.  The central hole is not a hole, it is concrete, and always was.
And finally (whew!)… where’s that backhoe!
LOL YES

Unknown

Yeah, but aint it just great that so many folks are still rackin their brains on it after all these years? I dont know about those pbwiki folks, but there’s surely some progress being made somewhere. I’m tempted to buy a plane ticket to a hardware store somewhere far away if nobody figures out something soon…

If the line “cold as glass” isnt specific to the Glassel school, then perhaps it serves the purpose of a Christmas Eve when kids stay up late with their hands and faces pressed against the window in anticipation of Santa Claus…hoping to catch a glimpse of a sleigh ir a red nose in the sky….

wilhouse

I guess in my mind, when he told me “it would not be a waste of time to dig there”, that was all the credit I needed.
wilhouse

It was a tough deal. Preiss was so helpful to those Chicago hunters. Was he just grumpy and tight lipped about things after 22 years?

erexere

Wilhouse, you were as close as it gets. I bet Preiss would’ve given you credit had you not been occupied by the zoo and its mysteries.

I guess in my mind, when he told me “it would not be a waste of time to dig there”, that was all the credit I needed.
wilhouse

erexere

It was a tough deal. Preiss was so helpful to those Chicago hunters. Was he just grumpy and tight lipped about things after 22 years?

The reality was that he moved on from The Secret even if we couldn’t. He just wasn’t interested.

TexWriter, thanks for the literary investigations. I don’t recall if anyone has ever mentioned the Three Weird Ones before in reference to the Melville book. That corresponds so well with the Atropos Key possibility.

Unknown

Unknown:
If we take the original quote to be meant to point us to the Atropos Key and apply that directly to the next line: “Falls gently In December night” you get –

The December night could probably mean that, since the theater is literally right there, a december only event happens in the park. A Christmas special?

I see the December night imagery as a star atop a tree. Basically, looking for a light at the top of a pole. The strongest tower may be one of the super tall light poles as opposed to the standard height poles that line the parks walkways.

Fox, well, that was old.  It was one of my very first attempts, before I narrowed the choice down to the zoo.
It was in an empty lot near the Meecham fountain, about 1/2 mile north of the zoo (not the CZ, but the zoo entrance).
In hindsight, it had none of the clues in it, but hey, I had been looking for months and really wanted to dig somewhere.  Since that was private property, there was at least some chance of being arrested, and Preiss saved me that indignity…
Of course, now that lot has a house on it!
ml

I finally got my website updated and have now posted all of my thoughts on the Houston casque with lots of pictures. If you have a slow computer you could have some wait time for the pictures to download as they are large files. Maybe there is something there that might help someone discover the casque. I have highlighted my top 5 “Areas of Interest”.
It has been raining here in the Houston area the last couple of days and the temperature has been hovering in the mid 40’s to mid 50’s. It is about to warm up so I will be headed out that way to look around and see if anything new grabs me in the next 3 or 4 days.
My website: txtreasurehunter.net

I dont know if its possible to find this casque. If I was in Houston right now Id go to the Atropos statue and find the spot on the ground from where I could see the apex of the theater through the diamond pattern (in the middle of four alike) in the face of Atropos. If the spot is far enough from the hill, and if it could be cross referenced by something else in the environment, then maybe its immediate area was untouched by all the heavy landscaping that followed publication.

Texwriter, great job on your website. I shouldve organized my stuff like that long ago. With respext to AoI#4, I think you need to actually lay on the grass and find that view of the apex and diamond. That way you find the actual ground point.

The problem is the Atropos Key was moved and the hill elevated by about 6 or more feet. If the location depends on “line of site” using the Atropos Key you would have to try to figure out exactly how far the key was moved as well as how much the elevation changed. Then a lot of math would need to be applied and then maybe you could find it. I thought the same thing at first, thinking of Kit Williams and the statue that he used the shadow of a cross at a certain day and time to mark the burial spot of his rabbit. So did Priess use the shadow of the Atropos Key on the Winter Solstice in December?
After you look at my site you will see what I have come up with. I am right of course just as everyone else is right until we are all proven wrong.
The main thing is it is fun for me to try. The thrill of the chase!

TexWriter, Oh, I can tell you things about TTotC. Let me know when you want to open up a secure line…
I cry Uncle given the landscaping was so extensive. They basically plowed the old hill down, put down layers of new irrigation, rock and sod. Cask = 0.
It’s not a complete bust tho. We can still gain insight into how he designed the hunt if we look closely at the wording of the verse and squeeze any additional clues from the image. It may be we already have done all that we can do.
Let me tell you why I think the Atropos Key is the focal point aside from what research you’ve already impressed us with. I look to the Litany of the Jewels for a special reference that fits the finalmost perspective on the casque spot or method for it’s hiding,
The Ruby out of Araby:
Scarlet of desert sky at dawn
scarlet may be a reference to brilliant red cloth (something woven) and Atropos is associated with cutting of threads
dawn is the time when the sun is just rising over the horizon
The head portion of the Atropos Key may be symbolic of the Sun with it’s several rays and the apex of the theater may be thought of as a mountain peak on the horizon. Most of my conclusions for the LotJ don’t seem quite right, so this is a work in progress. I hadn’t actually thought about this one in particular for a long time. Now I think it’s making perfect sense, especially with your research into Pierre.
Now, if we hurry we can back last call.

That’s alright on TTotC. That is what I have been spending most of my time on when not messing with The End Game. I personally feel I have a valid solution to it and my wife and I will be heading for the mountains as soon as the snow melts.

shecrab

Wilhouse:
When you were in the zoo, where were the camels? Did you ever take any photos of their area?

I did, and I’d have to go back to my archives to find them, but they were generally located in the front of the zoo, on the side noted by the totems in image 8.
As for all those cool pics posted by Sonoran, they’re great!  But in general, all that stuff, the fountains, the roads, the lake, the water, all new.  Most in the last 5 years.  None of that was there in 1982.
…it was easy to find that the Cockrell Butterfly Center opened in 1994.
I hate to point out that Preiss told me that digging in the CZ “would not be a waste of my time”, which was the most positive thing he said to me in 3 years of conversation with him…
wilhouse

Not to mention that in none of those photos does “the water veer.”

This morning an idea I’ve turned over a few times here in the forums struck me in a such a way that I cant think it works any other way.
When the verse says “theres the spout!,” followed by “a whistle sounds,” I think it calls forth an image of a whale’s blow hole at the top of its head, but also the sound of a whistle is described as its “pitch”. See how that works as both a Melville and/or a baseball reference? A “pitcher” as in a container, like a whale expelling water, pours water from a spout.
Atropos and the Miller Outdoor Theater seem like a good fit for this image.

a few thoughts/speculation..
The state motto of Texas is friendship. Might be what the 3rd line references.
The small of scale have to be the miniature rr tracks, so from 982 we have to go across the tracks. It doesn’t give any detail about a fence or path or street to follow so i would think we’d be able to spot the 4 alike/3 winged pretty soon after crossing the tracks, the center of which is where the treasure is buried. That leads me to believe the 4 or 3 (or both) aren’t spaced out that far (maybe surrounding an area of the same size where the treasure was buried in Cleveland) or it would be hard to find the center. It also leads me to believe that the treasure is buried on the east side of the lake between the lake and the parking lot (because that would have been the nearest tracks to cross). With the shape of the lake and previous route of the railroad tracks there was about twice as much ground going east to west in between that area of the tracks. Today you couldn’t bury anything in that area without being noticed but there may have been more trees in that area as well in 1982. From the last time i was in the park I don’t recall seeing anything there remotely resembling the 4 alike/3 winged but i still believe its in that area. This one might require a metal detector (if it can even be detected by one).

Does you map show the area on Main st north of the 3 fountains and the 3 fountains (Meecham?)? what did all that look like? also, the sam houston monument (now it is so bare even the 4 trees surrounding the monument are gone).
finally, how about the Houston garden center area, across from the science museum? according to the net, there was a friendship pavillion there, but now no one seems to know anything about it.
feel free to email it if you can.
wilhouse

some ruminations from a frustrated treasure hunter:
what if center of four alike meant the Center of XXXX, like Center of Health, medicine, science and life (I just made that up).  Or what if it means center of 4 museums or 4 churches.
The concensus at my house is that three winged means three things with wings, not things with three wings (three winged, not three-winged).  If so, that means that in the center of 4 alike there will be three things with wings that are small, split and slight (all or one each?).
What things have wings?:
birds, planes, insects, angels, hotels (hotel wings?), dragons, pixies, fairies, libraries, arrows…
Is there another connection with the “strongest tower of delight”?  There’s no pierre st. or melville place in Houston.
wilhouse

Check it out, the first line of the verse alone is very little to go on, but it at least narrows things down slightly.  It’s both a lead and and end.  It’s possible to apply that kind of construction to a puzzle at least.  I think Preiss has achieved it.  He takes each area of his interest and finds a spot that makes sense, then he builds a verse about the various standouts in the immediate environment and tosses in a few literary clues that keep you on track and chooses a keen line that is interpreted as an intro and outro clues to that casque.

maltedfalcon

Hey I’m from California, In Texas that alone is a hanging offense, much less making an Alamo history mistake.

fox

I think that Wilhouse pretty much nailed down this entire verse. Why oh why do these wacky theories keep popping up?

As a native Texan…”get a rope”
I beg to differ Mr Fox. I have this one down to the very spot to dig. I am just waiting to pop by and get permission.

Good luck, Rookhunter!  I’m sure you’ll have some success at some point.

Best of luck Rookhunter! Unearth another of these elusive casques! Take lots of pictures.

I think that Wilhouse pretty much nailed down this entire verse. Why oh why do these wacky theories keep popping up?

small, split,
Back?  Small of the back.  A halfback; half = halved or split.
Miller Hill.  Front = side facing theater stage.  Back = location of casque.
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout! = an oration on stage
A whistle sounds. = alternative to clapping or cheering, a whistle might be used to as an alternate form of applause.

I found a topo drawing from 1982 of Hermann Park.  The link says 1990, but when you click on it, you get July 1982.
If no one has used the terraserver, it gives you free arial views or topos (if available), from different years.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/addres … 1500+Herma
nn+Dr%2c+Houston%2c+TX+77004
Soonerfan, what does the lake look like to you?
wilhouse

Fenix, I have to admit, I have had thoughts that center of four alike could be Center, such as the medical center.
I drove over there last week with that in mind but had two problems:  1) it’s so much in construction that who knows how it compares to 1982, and 2) we still need to find small, split and slight, even if we assume three hospitals have wings, which of course they do.
do you like my camel lake idea? I’m not sure where it gets me though. still thinking about it.
wilhouse

It should be noted (again) that Preiss liked using trees in his process.  The ten by thirteen wasnt a square plot of 130 (10×13=130) trees.  The trees along two sides of the corner counted out as ten in a line on the west edge and thirteen along the north edge.  The same method wouldbbe used to describe a rectangle.  There is a geometey motif, not necessary so much to solve Chicago.
So let me ask what fits best in Houston for simple use of trees and lines or rectangles/squares?
I think my specific tree identification idea is too elborate.  I’m more inclined to think the object of “in the middle of four alike” is to identify a coordinating point.  I think Friendship south AND in the middle of four alike point to Sam Houstons statue.  The casque will be determined by having line of sight on him.  The hill at Miller Outdoor Theater looks like a healthy option.

Look at this second set of “slight” trees on the west side of theater, you can see the block in the distance.

that’s a real nice spot.  not sure what kind of trees those are.

New here … but I live across from Herman Park. I’ve been walking the park daily to get some ideas and I’ve read a bit about where things are located. I’d be happy to share photos and thoughts regarding this, but I do have some questions.
What is the general consensus regarding the tower of delight?
“What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
In December night”
Any thoughts on the “Small, split, three winged and slight”?
If anyone has any requests for pictures, I walk the park every day.

erexere

To the number / Nine eight two : given the strength of the train number being 982, I think there is no doubt that this is it.
Through the wood : There are “woods” all over the west part of the park and can seem quite scary at night
No lion fears : Asking around, apparently the train used to play “follow the yellow brick road” and I think this is a reference to the cowardly lion.
Small of scale : Definitely a reference the small tracks
Step across : Definitely regarding stepping across the tracks

Following up on your post, I’d like to give you my thoughts on particular portions.

I’m not sure there’s a popular consensus on the tower quote. Some people might be content to think its purely a literary link to Melville to echo the name of Herman as a confirmer of the Hermann Park area. I tried once to think it was also a zoo clue for the giraffe area. As the quote in the book continues with a leaf falling it would imply a tree is significant. I’ve thought it could be a tall light tower as “delight” contains “light”. Now I’m thinking it may be a clue to Atropos, since the sme page where the quote is found also talks explores the subject of death and mentions the three sisters of Fate.
The cowardly lion and the train tracks have often been considered, but I dont feel compelled to go with it.

Egbert

Okay, let’s do it your way.  “Number” has the word “umber” in it.  Using the dictionary, “umber” is a pigment which contains iron oxide and manganese oxide.  Iron has the chemical symbol “Fe” and Manganese is “Mg.”  Oxygen (oxide) is symbolized by “O,” and appears twice.  So, we have FEMGOO, which easily becomes “Goof Me.”  So, NUMBER becomes “n goof me.”  This means that the clue 982 is a red herring, and should be ignored.  But, rather than ignore it, it is tricking you, so it should be read backwards.  289 is the area code for Aurora, Ontario.
“Take your task” implies “jobs” “chores” or “duties.”  A CIVIC duty is one of the most important duties or tasks.  There is a Civic Square Park in Aurora, Ontario.  This could be the solution!
Thank you, thank you very much.

How about a small cinderblock statue, a thin (slight one), one that appears to have 3 wings?…not sure about split.
How about a small, split rail fence in the shape of a U, with three sides? Not sure about slight.
How about a bench with split rails, in a small area with three sides, slightly in front of Brownie?
Sigh…I go to bed thinking about this and wake up thinking about it.
wilhouse

Wilhouse…  you wrote in a previous reply that you have not as of yet figured out what is small, split, three winged and slight there. I did a little looking around on the internet and have only come to 2 conclusions on things that are even close to this…  a dart or an arrow.  Darts have three fins or could be considered wings as well as arrows too.  they are small or can be and are slight.  Just food for thought.  It I agree is a very hard verse to figure out.

erexere

I was just thinking “a whistle sounds,” could simply mean “there’s a stop.”. Usually a whistle is a signal to stop.

Not true- Train whistles had a code everything from “stop” to “go”, to “there are cows on the tracks” or “we’re changing tracks.”

Well it’s been a fun soccer season with my kids.  At their level, the whistle from the coach usually came in response to the ball going out of bounds or to signal play to stop if a kid was injured and to bring the teams in for a quick huddle in between rounds or after water breaks.
We have one big train reference “982” and likely a small train reference “small of scale” and a visual “curved line with cross hatching”.  Maybe we’re pushing it to think the whistle has to also be train related.
Maybe it’s orchestra related.

Directly across the street from the CZ back in the 80’s was a Nabisco factory. The old CZ director told me that the factory had a whistle that would sound at lunch and quitting time. He said it was so loud it sounded like it was right in the zoo.
wilhouse

Today I had the epiphany about “in the sky the water veers” and it seems unequivocally to do with rain and the sudden change in direction rain makes when it hits a slanted roof.  Is there a particularly remarkable roof in the Hermann Park area?  Yes, the Miller Outdoor Theater.  I think this site is a focal point for the reason that the casque is there among the trees nearby.  The tough part is finding the exact method for decoding it’s position.  We look at the picture and see a large tilted stone in the distance, central in the image.  If this is similar to Chicago, we might consider the arched fencing that was one of the cross hair markers in the ten by thirteen plot of trees.  This tilted stone might be the same thing.  The next question is what other points would create an intersection for spot location?  The pioneer memorial fountain?  A specifically shaped oak tree?  The line extending out from the center peak of the Miller Outdoor Theater?  The funky statue?

the key is and always has been, determining what small, split, three winged and slight is.
wilhouse

How about the Southern Catalpa.  It’s leaves have an interesting technical description where they grow in “whorls” of three and the edges are classified as “smooth” -apparently there are a variety of edge descriptions, I believe “smooth” or “entire” is a perfect equivalent of “slight”.  In winter, the fruit seeds remain on the tree and are described as thin beans which often split.  The tree is commonly called an Indian Bean or Cigar Tree.
I also wonder if the Miller Outdoor Theater roof is somewhat like a leaf with it’s smooth metal edges (cold as glass, in the Ayn Rand perspective refers to a steel rail) and it’s notched top with wide base like that of the heart-shaped cordate leaf shape.
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
If this is about a tree, then the Catalpa is a good choice.  I even wondered if Catalpa = “Cat + Alpha” = Lion.

I’ve come to the assumption that Preiss saw the perfect opportunity to bury a cask at Miller Outdoor Theater’s hill.  He took notice of the usage of following two points in a straight line to the spot.  Working with that he set forth a poem and picture puzzle to include cryptic references mainly to those two points themselves, how to use them, and a couple strong references to the general location.
Point A: MOT apex
Point B: Atropos Key
Locate Polaris motif: bright star drawn in image,  first line of verse uses the word ‘north’, other lines to refer to ‘steward’ and ‘withering’ (works as dual reference to death for Atropos) combined to make Wilt Chamberlain aka the Big Dipper, which serves as our instruction manual to do exactly as one would when connecting the two stars Merek and Dubhe to find Polaris.
The 982 and Melville quote additionally support the general location of train in Hermann Park.
All together we have a perfect combination of cryptic elements resulting in a concise set of instructions.
Here’s a profile of MOT with Atropos Key on the hill.  Notice how the two points interact to find the location of Polaris in one image and the prospective casque location.

Sounds like a good way to spend the day.

Ropace37

Forget everything you know about this verse. It does not describe many places, it all leads to one place. Everything after “take your task
to the number
nine eight two”
The verse is more literal than we initially suspected. Trust me, I’ve already cracked this nut!

yup, here we go again

Pine,  you are exactly right about looking back at the spout.
The next excavation is when it cools down.  The heat index here last week was  106F.
wilhouse

Perhaps the djinn in the pic is smoking, or cooling off in the water spout.

No find.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1669016820051443/

HoustonTxDave

For those who are interested….i started a group on FACEBOOK for the Houston searchers. Just go to the
Search box and type in “
The Secret A Treasure Hunt (Houston)
“. I figured it would
be a good place for the Houston treasure hunters to chat, post images and get to know
others in the area. I wanted to have a place to post my pictures, talk about my theories,
and let others follow what I have been doing lately.

Why not just use here, as opposed to creating multiple locations and making it really confusing for anybody new who wants to join in
its seems to me you are just making it more difficult for new searchers.

Such big bulldozers for such a little flower pot…

if the ground weren’t so hard and full of roots, I’d keep trying to dig. but i’ve run out of time.
I’m hoping it doesn’t get crushed in the process…
wilhouse

Hi folks,
My name is Dave..i will be going out to Hermann Park on Saturday August 8th, 2015 to search for the spot i think it is buried. If anyone would like to join me..just let me know.

Dave how were you able to come up with a solve and a place to dig after all the changes have been made in the park? You must have been working on this a long time…

I’m guessing Dave is all about the fun of comparing the painting to different angles of view on the MOT. There are a many lines to consider along the bricks in addition to the columns. That tilted stone has always seemed like a ringer to me. Whatever the case, I respect that he is working on it however it makes sense to him.
Ive been loosely reviewing some of the material with the implication that Santa Clause has a key role in this puzzle. I know it might sound stupid at first. It goes deeper than just an assumption from “falling gently / in december night”. The preceding lines are the quote from Melville which specifically calls upon imagery of a tree dropping a leaf, and following that is mention of the Fates, three weird sisters, split into three wings/tasks in managing the threads of life. Is the importance of a tree at Christmas time a parallel to death? A bulky thought. Then the spout and whistle…does that model a tea kettle, like a Genie’s lamp, granting a wish, again a parallel to Santa, essentially granting wishing children their gifts. There are two other notes to consider: Ruddy Alf and his reindeer hide boots, and the Ruby of Araby, scarlet over desert sky at dawn. Does a red nosed reindeer named Rudolph or the fact that Santa wears a big red suit or drives a big red sleigh also fulfill some subtle connection?
Maybe 24 paces, maybe 25…, I think one or the other will approximate to a very nice visual on the diamond mouth of Atropos with the apex of MOT. If so, I would say we have a good candidate for a dig spot…though it will ultimately be an effort of luck.

well, I can’t remember seeing anything shamrock shaped at the CZ.  The CZ is shaped more like a 4 leaf clover than a 3 leaf one.
wilhouse

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned but “Small, split, three winged and slight” could refer to a shamrock.
There is a famous hotel near Hermann Park called the Shamrock Hotel but it was paved over in 1987.  But something that might be of interest is the Dick Dowling statue actually has shamrocks engraved on each side above the inscriptions.  Each side of the statue has 6 shamrocks, 24 in total so it might not be what we are looking for, but I thought I would throw it out regardless.  You can see the shamrocks if you scroll down to the pictures below.  The site actually makes mention of them, “Notice the shamrocks above the inscriptions.”
http://www.wikiwikiplanet.com/Dick_Dowling_Statue.html

Regarding the concrete patch, is it safe to assume that you will somehow dig down the edge of the concrete and then dig horizontally toward the casque (if it is there, of course)?  I assume that you have thought of every possible angle (OK, bad pun) but I am just curious.

Guardian

I know people will give me flak for this, but this is one thing i agree with you on. I’ve had this on my path almost constantly since I started,

but i know how to estimate exact spot, where exactly did you look…plot it on a map and show me…how did you check? (please dont say probed…probing is 100000000% useless…take it from someone who has.)

very possibly disturbed though, but i wouldnt say certainly.

no on the xmas tree, yes on the flagpole, but it’s over in the Asia exhibit (yes, Asia, home of the Araby).  It would be north and east of the party room, so in the morning the shadow would fall on the party room area. But there’s so many trees now it won’t fall.
I’ll be there in the am and will check out where it would fall.
wilhouse

Doesn’t the Melville quote go on to say that what falls is a “leaf”?

I thought it was a metaphor for Pierre’s father.

Those lines supposedly refer to Pierre and Snowflake, the 2 llamas at the zoo.  However, no one has been able to confirm the names.

for sure one of the lines, what we take to be our strongest tower of delight, is from Hermann Melville’s Pierre.  Now, perhaps that was it’s only significance. To stear us to Herman Park.  Perhaps, as Egbert notes, it was the name of a llama and so Preiss used it as a double clue.
My personal opinion is that it IS a clue to lead us to Herman Park, but also to lead you to the party room.  Tower of delight.  I believe the party room is the general location of the casque.
Falls gently in December night is a tough one.  No answer for that.  Snowflake perhaps.  Temperature?  There’s an air conditioner by the party room.  Thermometer? I have been told that there was a thermometer onthe outside of the party room.  I just dont know.
wilhouse

Still fascinating.  The posts from three years ago I mean.  Here’s my thoughts for what they are worth.
When I first read the book, before Q4T, my buddy and i thought that those lines meant an American flag, whose shadow falling in December would point to the x spot.  Of course we weren’t thinking Houston at the time.  Were there any flags there?  Near the party room?  After looking at the Copley Square ideas (green tower of lights) for image11, I thought Christmas tree for these lines, and perhaps the shadow of that tree in the evening, pointing to the spot.  After all your research, any xmas trees?

Frisco

Nice! Are there pictures of that clock post that show whether or not the “S” was there in 1980?

The S on the concrete base of the clock tower is very faint. For the last photo…i used a draw program to show where the faint S is at. Im not sure if the S was there in 1980 but…with all the zoo locations lost in development….i have to at least give some alternative theories a try and dig. Theories are only theories until you dig. Then you find out if you wrong or right.

I can’t remember where but I seem to remember that it took him almost a year to bury the casques. Certainly winter in Houston would be better than Milwaukee or Chicago. Also, the majority of trees in the CZ were maple or oak. The maples drop their leaves in the fall, the oaks drop theirs in the winter but they come right back.
wilhouse

Unknown

Unknown:
I think I have that one nailed. My wife and I are planning a trip that way

Always a plus to see someone confident enough about their solve to plan a trip to explore, and possibly dig. It’s the only way if we expect to find #3. The best of luck to you.

Hi TexWriter,
The zoo theory is one of the strongest….BUT i do have a secondary theory that i put in a request to the Houston Parks and Recreation department for a dig in Hermann Park. I am waiting for a RITE of Access and Permit to dig from their Park Administrator Rick Dewees.
…
…
….
…
…..
….
…..
The spot just to the front right of the clock tower is the spot i requested to dig. Now that it is the off-season for miller outdoor theater plays….there is less traffic and the kids are out of school for christmas break. I should here from Rick Dewees sometime in early January 2016 on the permit.

Nice! Are there pictures of that clock post that show whether or not the “S” was there in 1980?

I always assumed that this was on the Houston Zoo
Here was my take on the breaks in verse one:
Small of scale
Step across        (cross the bridge into the children’s zoo
——————————————–
Perspective should not be lost  (standing in one spot, you can see the “four alike”)
In the center of four alike
Small, split,
Three winged and slight          (i always assumed that this was a description of four different types of leaves on trees, in the center of which was the dig spot)
——————————————-
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently                            (Melville –> Moby Dick –> blowing water out of the spout on top of a whale, or literally:  Looks like a big tower of water, but falls gently as droplets)
——————————————-
In December night                  (Christmas Eve –> Santa –> elves ==>  Elf Fountain.  ie, the elf is overlooking the four trees that you dig in the center of)
——————————————
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout!                  (the elf fountain again)
——————————————
A whistle sounds.
(in my mind, it was always a bird chirping, because you are among all of the trees.  I know this probably isn’t correct.)
I was really sorry to hear of the renovation of the Children’s zoo.  I’ll miss working on this one.

wilhouse

There is a kugel ball right outside the entrance to the museum across from the sam houston statue. The statue area and the pond were all redone so you can’t go by google maps.
The train was rerouted but I posted a map of the original track.
Here’s some fun shots, the elf fountain by the back gate and Snowflake the llama by the nursery where they hatched reptiles.
wilhouse

Isn’t there a clearer image of the elf fountain somewhere?  I can’t seem to find it.

I always hoped that the Tower Of Delight was the Party Building, which was the round building across from the elf fountain.
wilhouse

wilhouse

There is a kugel ball right outside the entrance to the museum across from the sam houston statue. The statue area and the pond were all redone so you can’t go by google maps.
The train was rerouted but I posted a map of the original track.
Here’s some fun shots, the elf fountain by the back gate and Snowflake the llama by the nursery where they hatched reptiles.
wilhouse

It’s easy enough to see the original track just simply by Googling the map of the Zoo, or the museum–you can also see the extent of the renovations. The satellite pic was taken when they had most of the CZ scraped off.
And the Kugel ball was installed in the 90’s. It’s over by the Carruth playground–not the museum. It’s west of the museum. Unless they moved it?  The wiki article says it’s by the museum–but the park information says it’s by the playground.
There must have BEEN a water tower visible from some place on that train route. I think that is the key.

erexere

I keep thinking about the line Our strongest tower of delight and I think there may be something to “tower” referencing the giraffe, but also “delight” from the Latin “delectare” could be thought of as “charm” which is also what a collective of Finches is called.

Again with the collective nouns…
You do know that collective nouns for groups of animals are not in any way shape or form “official” don’t you ?  In fact, they can be highly arbitrary and totally fictional.

Wilhouse: is there any way for you to take that train ride?

I’ve taken the train ride. It’s uncomforable.
There’s no water tower anywhere that I know of. That train was electric and I think still is.
The ball has been in front of the museum at least since I moved here in 97. I think they are planning on putting in another one, but there’s one right by the front door of the museum.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM533W
wilhouse

…why argue unless you are sure there is a water tower or equally sure there isnt any giraffes in the zoo?  Its not like im saying its absolute that the use of the word tower has to apply to the giraffe.  Just try to consider the option.  Its unwise to exclude the option without strong evidence against.  Its like you are claiming Byron wasnt a writer.  To clarify, only a person with proven writing skill would consider using that book quote to such effect.
The idea that BP wouldnt even come close to copyright infringement is worth mentioning but there are very clear boundaries in that regard where many people play it close.  BP knew what he was doing and would avoid any pitfalls.  Just consider how bold he was to bury casques in so many interesting places…supposedly using disguises even!  Look at the situation now, we have all kinds of red tape to go through to avoid getting arrested or shot.

Unknown

Unknown:
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
In December night

Good pics Wilhouse,
could be referencing a reflection off water, kind of like you pic #70??
Just a thought.

Ok, I have posted the pictures from my sojourn into Hermann Park.
Thanks Dan for the suggestion.
Here is the link, you might have to sign up for the group.
wilhouse
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/armchair_ … rmannPark/

that pond wasn’t there in 82. It’s new.  But there is a fountain right by the memorial.

sorry posted this in the wrong thread,
here it is… from wilhouse

maltedfalcon

here it is… from wilhouse

Thanks MF!

global warning? you have got to be kidding! if you think all of our years, yes years, of research is rubbish then why are you even here? wait, i know why we havent found a casque  (minus the one we did find in cleveland)it is because foxes are bad luck.